


Written Down

by VincentTheSheep



Category: Jak and Daxter
Genre: Diary/Journal, Furry, Kinda new to this, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, Ottsel Daxter, POV First Person, Secrets, Slash, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-12
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-03-01 04:05:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2758982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VincentTheSheep/pseuds/VincentTheSheep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was simple, Jak had a diary, and Daxter wanted to read it. But it is often said that Curiosity killed the Ottsel... Contains Slash, nothing graphic, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter for one of my first works of fanfiction, I would greatly appreciate constructive feedback and criticism where it's needed, and I hope you enjoy it!

The storm that blew upon Haven City that night had no trouble keeping me wide awake.

I always found it hard to dismiss the constant drone of heavy rain, smacking down on the roof far above me, accompanied by the loud thunder that would constantly make me jump. And I know that it's not any of my 'animal instincts', I just hate storms, simple as that. Even back at Sandover Village, before I was small, cute and fuzzy, I would always toss and turn under the sheets during the worst storms. On some nights, I would even cry out loud enough to wake up the entire village in the middle of the night, including Samos. Heh, probably another reason he hated me so much.

Jak helped with a lot of that. Nowadays, I've gotten better with handling my childhood phobia, not because of maturity, hell I'm far from that, but because of the many dangerous experiences I've had with Jak. I've seen this guy take on the toughest, nastiest and ugliest creatures that the world could ever throw at us, I've seen this guy go to the greatest, and most painful, lengths just to help out his friend, and save the lives of people he never even knew. And yet I still get scared from something as plain and natural as a storm.

That's just pathetic.

I gave up with any attempt of going to sleep, so I rolled over to my right side to face Jak. I remember the days when Jak used to look so peaceful when he slept, even during the craziest storms. But those days were gone, due to the two years of imprisonment, torture and god knows what else that he had to face. Prison messed him up alright, and not even an army of shrinks can fix anything about what'd happened to Jak. None of my problems could stack anywhere close to any of his...

I got out of my bed, well, hammock actually. It was a small piece of cloth, probably torn from one of Jak's sleeves, set up on the drawer that stood next to Jak's bed. Jak was asleep, but he was not having a good time. Another nightmare, definitely, but I knew there wasn't much I could do about that. On earlier nights, I had tried to help Jak, like the way he helped me, climbing down onto his bed to console him, telling him that everything was over, and that I would always be there. But Jak had always been a deep sleeper, and all attempts to calm him down only gave me the risk of getting crushed to death, accidentally of course.

I needed to find something to do, to keep my mind off of the storm, that sometimes helped. After all, it's better to spend time actually doing something, and not just lying down, feeling sorry for myself, it's more productive that way. I didn't have that many options, everybody in the Palace was surely asleep, with the guards on night shift as the only exception, but I was certain they weren't up for any conversation either. I considered reading a book, but the process of hauling one out of the bookshelf is exhausting enough as it is, I don't think I need to explain why. Besides, even a book with an interesting plot wouldn't be able to distract me enough to go to sleep anyway.

That's when the thought hit me, maybe there was one book I could read. Ok, maybe it wasn't a book, but it's contents would've been more than enough to at least entertain me.

You see, a couple of months after we defeated Erol, saving the world once again I might add, Jak continued to have nightmares of prison, Praxis and Dark Eco. Even after all these years, taking revenge all on those that had wronged him before, Jak still couldn't quite shake the past off of him, the trauma was still there. That was when Keira suggested that maybe he should keep a journal, a diary, whatever you call it, and write anything that was still bothering him. His nightmares, thoughts and hopes, anything in the hope that he would strive to overcome them. This diary would have all the juicy info on Jak that I can get, and tonight was probably the best time to go for it.

Once I had made my decision, I leaped off the shelf onto the bed next to me to begin my journey. I hardly made the gap as I ended up clinging onto the sides of Jak's bed, hanging on for dear life. I never really had much body strength to begin with, as I noticed that I was starting to pull the bed covers down with me. Already, I realized that my adventure was going to be a lot harder than I thought it would be.

_"I can't give up now"_

Luckily, I had managed to wedge my right foot into a small, almost non-existent, gap between the two mattresses that made Jak's bed, and managed to re-steady myself to an upright position.

_"Phew"_

I could not help but sigh with a breath of relief. If I had managed to pull off those bed sheets, Jak would've woken up, with absolutely nothing covering him up, shivering and wondering what might have happened the previous night. Even with his nightmares he never made that much commotion, and I really didn't need him to suspect that I had snooped around through his personal belongings, especially his diary.

I finally pulled myself on top of the bed itself, finally getting to fully scope Jak's proximity for any sign of the diary.

_"That was a LOT harder than it should have been."_

Now where would Jak put such a personal and private item like a diary? It was definitely in this room, but where exactly was the question. I considered the bookcase, maybe hiding it in plain sight seemed like a good idea to Jak. No, that would be too obvious, the purple leather of the diary would've stuck out between the dull red and green covers that most of the Palace's books had, I would've found it right away. It had to be close by, probably somewhere on this very bed.

I tramped up the bed, continuing my search while trying very carefully not to stupidly trip myself up. There is only one safe place on the bed to store any item, that no city thief would dare go for, and that would be under the pillows. Of course it couldn't be on the one Jak was resting on, that would just be uncomfortable, so I reached to lift the pillow on the left. After a considerable amount of effort, I finally managed to lift the pillow up and drag the diary to where I could read it.

I sat on the front of Jak's bed, with the diary laid out in front of me. For a second, the sensible part of my mind hesitated, should I really be doing this? This is Jak's very own personal diary, to help fume out his own problems, after all! At the end, my more curious side had triumphed. What on earth could Jak have written in that diary, that was too personal to even mention to his best friend in the world? Like I'd said, Jak and I had been through a world of hell together over the past couple of years, we were real tight. Why would he still be keeping secrets from me? Besides, maybe if I knew more about Jak's personal problems, I could try to help him out, talk to him, provide moral support, anything really!

I unlocked the pointless padlock on the front of the diary, which didn't even need a key to do so, and I peered into the contents of the diary.

The first entry read: _What am I becoming? No matter how hard I've tried, sometimes I just can't control my rage, this monster inside of me, when I want to. What does Daxter think of me now, he must be terrified of me, at least, he SHOULD be terrified of me. I just don't want to hurt him, my one best friend._

I couldn't help but smile, Jak could be a bit overprotective of me at times. Even though it still didn't stop me from getting us into trouble, he still tried to look out for me. I knew that Jak deeply cared for my safety and, although I wouldn't admit it either, I cared for him as well. Because of the Light Eco, Jak is beginning to handle his Dark Eco problems well. This is a good thing, of course, but I have a feeling that even today Jak is still worried, about reaching his breaking point and...well you know, hurting people. No matter how much I try to reassure him.

I began flipping past the next couple of pages, reading more and more about the things that still bugged him to this day. Another entry read about his constant frustration with Torn and Ashlien, with "their continuous flirting and public displays of affection", which, now that you mention it, had kinda annoyed me too. At first, I just thought that this was because Jak believed that something like romance was completely pointless. But as I read on, it was actually the complete opposite:

_I can't help but slightly dislike Torn and Ashlien's relationship, it just constantly reminds me that they have something special, something I can't have, no matter how much I would try to._

Now we're getting to the good bits! I didn't know Jak was the hopeless-romantic type, or any romantic at all actually. I wonder if he's interested in anyone? Keira maybe? Or perhaps Jak's just jealous about Torn...

I was getting more curious by the end of each page, there had to be more information on Jak's love life, there had to be! By this point, I began slowing down on the skim-reading, not wanting to miss any important details on the romance front. I needed the name, face, and personality about this 'special someone' that may, or may not, eventually end up in both of our lives, if things went well with Jak, and I needed to know now!

Sure enough, I had reached the page I was looking for. Excitement racing through my mind, I made sure not to miss a single detail of anything the following page read.

_"No matter how much I might like this person, to tell them how I really feel without creating a massive amount of awkwardness, especially when I've known them for so long, is just impossible..."_

I smiled once again, as another thought passed my mind. 'Ah, so he's referring to Keira!' Of course, right from the very start, it was obvious that Jak was going to, eventually, develop a crush on this girl, no surprises there. But why keep something that obvious written in such a private diary, there was no point. Hell, the amount of times Tess and I would tease Jak after talking to Keira, and the amount of times he would blush were ridiculous.

I made it mid-paragraph when I noticed it, one single sentence that had tripped up my reading momentum. At first, I thought I'd misread it, the constant repetition of words, could have jumbled my mind somehow. But after cautiously reading it once more, the sentence was still there, just as I'd read it. Only a few seconds later, the realization hit me.

No no no...

I shut the book quietly, but slowly, still processing what i'd just read. Amazingly, I managed to place the diary back in its original position exactly as it was, despite the heavy pillow, climb back up the drawer, and jump into my hammock, tired but still very awake. Once again, I stared into the ceiling. My head began to crowd itself with questions, but my journey to Jak's Diary had taken it all out of me, I would have to think about this more tomorrow... As tired as I was,I still couldn't get to sleep, but it wasn't because of the rain anymore, that stopped a long time ago. It was that one sentence, and its unexpected meaning, that continued to bug me.

Jak wasn't in love with Keira...

_I'm so sorry Daxter, it should have been someone else, why did it have to be you?_

He was in love with me.


	2. Chapter 1

**Daxter**

* * *

 

The next morning was complete hell, and the 4 hours of sleep I got from last night wasn't helping things much either. I knew that today was going to be a busy day for everyone, especially Jak, but in my tired state, I hardly had the energy to care.

As I slowly started to seep my eyes open, the events from last night started to come back to me; The traumatically loud storm, my amazing display of acrobatics, reading Jak's diary, the fact that he's in love with me...OH MY GOD HE'S IN LOVE WITH ME.

Ok, I'll admit, it was stupid that I could almost forget something like that, but the revelation was enough to jolt me wide awake into reality, literally and metaphorically. My mind began to muddle with questions again; _How long has he felt that way? And why? Doesn't he like, ya know, women?_

It was still hard to believe, but I tried to put everything in the back of my mind; today had more urgent matters to think about, I could worry about stuff like that later.

"C'mon Dax, it's time to get up." The sound of Jak drawing back the curtains was the last thing I wanted to hear. A headache began to pulse through my head as I tried to shield my eyes from the sun.

For some reason, I always woke up around the same time Jak did, which normally, was very early in the morning. I guess it had to do with the amount of time we'd spend together, well, saving the world. I also couldn't help but blame Torn, for constantly demanding us to take part in early-morning metal-head hunts/suicide missions. Both of us needed to be wide awake for the other, because we were a team, and the world had become too dangerous for us to not look out for one another. Eventually it kinda turned into a habit, even though we stopped risking our lives a LONG time ago. Actually, I think a _curse_ would have been a better word for it.

"Alright, big guy, I'm getting up!" I responded, which made it very clear how tired I really was. I did the typical morning stretches and yawned. "Just give me a minute to..."

Jak saw me trying to lay down again, but he wasn't going to play ball. "Oh no you don't, we need to get going, now!"

Jak pinched me out of my hammock and quickly onto his shoulder. Amazingly, Jak had already gotten himself dressed, seconds after getting up, and we were already out of our bedroom before I could even open my eyes again. As we ran down the hallway, I couldn't help but be just a little annoyed.

"C'mon Jak, we've got plenty of time to prepare for the Haven Day season, what's with the big rush?"

I forgot to mention; once every year, everybody in the city celebrates something called Haven Day. It's supposed to celebrate Haven City's victory over the metal heads, and the ending of the centuries-long war against idea, surprisingly enough, had been made up by Ashlien, the sometimes too serious governor of Haven City. She believed that if the city were given a time to officially celebrate, it would "serve to increase the morale of the people, and look towards the possibility of a peaceful future". Of course, everybody in the city council, including Jak and I, agreed with Ashlien's idea, as it was her way of saying that we all deserved a break. It became Haven City's newest and most popular law, this year was going to be the first year to celebrate it.

Jak chuckled slightly, "Have you forgotten already? The Bazaar's going to be packed with people trying to purchase gifts, we've got to get a head start!" I had no energy to argue with him.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the idea of Haven Day more than anyone! In fact, if I wasn't so worn out from last night, I would have been just as eager to get out of the Palace as Jak was. I was glad that Jak had taken to enjoy such a celebration as well, it gave him something else to think about, which was good. The last couple of months ago had been hard on him; losing his father, his only family, must have been one of the hardest things he has to deal with. Hopefully, this celebration could help him to relax a bit more, and assure him that everything was ok now.

I needed to recompose myself, I didn't want Jak to start worrying about me again, and ruin the happy mood that he had going for himself. I didn't want to lie to Jak about what I had been doing last night, and the revelation I had made. I mentally slapped myself.

_"Dammit Daxter, stop worrying about that and get yourself together!"_

By this time, Jak and I had reached the outside of the Palace and were on our way to the Bazaar, which, luckily, was within walking distance. The weather had definitely improved from last night; it wasn't raining, thank god, and most of the clouds had passed by after the storm. I guess today was going to be a good day after all. Jak took off towards the market, not wanting to waste a second of the day. Having managed to adjust myself onto Jak's shoulder, I started to gain my bearings again.

"Ok! You've woken me up," I said, still slightly flustered "but do we have any ideas on what gifts we're going to buy, and for who? Because I sure don't!"

"I've got it all figured out!" Jak grinned with confidence "I've already got an idea for Keira, Sig and Torn, we can split up and you go fetch something for Tess and Ashlien." He tossed me a couple of Precursor Orbs "That should be enough to get something for everyone! Meet me back here when you're done, ok?"

"Alright!" I smiled with more energy than I had, leaping off of Jak's shoulder as we walked our separate ways towards different parts of the Bazaar. I felt more relieved now that I actually had a plan of action, I just needed to figure out what gifts I had to by for Ashlein and Tess. How hard could it be?

As I entered into the marketplace, I realized that Jak had made a good call getting up early. The lack of customers in the Bazaar was a rare sight to see; I think only a quarter of it's average amount of customers had shown up at this time of day, leaving virtually no crowds to dodge past in fear of getting stepped on. I began to wonder how anyone could have the willpower to get up as early as Jak did, and I had my deepest respect for the market tellers for getting up even earlier.  
The market became one of Haven's top priorities for renovation, due to it's destruction when the old Palace was toppled down, and everything looked brand new. The Bazaar had been rebuilt in the same place, but had now been built to fit a lot more people in it, with the buildings accompanying it looking a lot more modern. Good thing it had been built in time for Haven Day, or else there would have been no presents!

I decided to go for Tess' gift first; I knew she would be much easier to please ('cause it'll come from me of course) but I still wanted to take the time and put some thought into it anyways. But what would such a adorable, yet frighteningly eccentric, girl like her enjoy?   
I doubted that she would be into anything flashy, like a shiny ring or a necklace, giving her something like that would be sending the wrong message anyway. I know how it is between Tess and I; she made it very clear on that one particular night when I had way too much to drink and way too much on my mind. It was surprising that I could even remember her response the next morning, and it kinda broke my heart.

Deciding she would prefer something more...dynamic, I headed towards the first stall that came to mind: a recent addition to the Bazaar, titled "Fun with Guns", seemed like the perfect idea.

The guy who headed the stall must have noticed me walking towards him, which was surprising considering my size, as he called me out in a cheery voice.

"Hey there man, the name's Barcuss! How can I help you out on this fine morning?" The man beamed an immense positive attitude, which used to be uncommon back in the early days of the marketplace. I guess things really have changed in Haven.

"Um, do you have anything suitable for a gift?" I asked him, not sure what to expect. It's been years since I've needed to buy anything for anyone, last time I did was back at Sandover, on Jak's 14th birthday. "Perhaps a special gun upgrade, or something.."

"Well, of course!" Barcuss was already rummaging underneath the stall for items. Within seconds, the man had already found something for me.  
"Here, will this do?" He tossed it to me. It was an attachable holographic sight; colored brightly in pink, with it's reticle a cyan star with a black dot in it's center. I observed every side of the thing, just to be careful; nothing too suggestive, and it had a decent price for it.

I made up my mind "Actually, that's exactly what I wanted! Thanks a lot!" I gave him the Precursor Orbs and he wished me a good day. I could hardly believe it. That was a lot easier than I had on I remembered that I still had Ashlein's present to find.

From what I could remember from eavesdropping on Torn I knew that Ashlien had a certain taste for fancy soaps and perfurmes. Seemed out of character at first, but I guess the Governor of Haven city has to keep her posh agenda in check. It didn't take me long to find the appropriate fragrance stall; brightly colored and decorated with pink neon flowers, the smell reminding me of Keira's old bedroom from when we were kids. Nostalgic, yes, but a sickly memory nonetheless.

I tried to only breathe through my mouth as I made my way towards the stall. This one had been in the Bazaar for quite some time, even during the great conflict with the metal heads, and the owner of the stall had always been the same person.

"Welcome to- oh it's you..." The lady snarled in a somewhat posh, yet hostile tone of voice as she recognized me. I never knew the name of this woman, not that I cared to, and I'd only see her around the place once or twice, but she certainly remembered me. "You're that WEASEL that keeps prancing around with a certain menacing adolescent, aren't you?"

I crossed my arms "Well, I never saw YOU trying to save Haven City when it was crumbling to pieces, you wouldn't know half the things we had to do to save YOUR ass!" I was used to taking rude remarks, particularly from a certain tattooed ex-KG leader, but I was hardly prepared for this lady. I sighed, calming myself down like Jak had taught me "Look, I just came here to get some perfume for a friend, do you have any of that?"

The lady at the stall sniffed "Of course I do, only the finest fragrances you can find in Haven! Although I don't think it's your _friend_ that needs the perfume..."

I knew what she meant, of course, but I decided to ignore it the best I could. "I'll just take the purple bottle on the top shelf..." It looked nice enough for Ashlien to use,even by her standards. I tossed the lady the orbs, so that I only had a few left to myself. She snorted, but I think she was sorta happy to have the sale anyway, and she passed me the bottle, not say another word.

I gave her one last stare before walking away "And a happy Haven Day to you too..." I grumbled. That couldn't have gone much worse, not that it's my fault, but I didn't want to get me down. The gift-shopping had been done and dusted, all that there was left to do was meet Jak at the rendezvous point outside the market.

Moments later, I could see Jak at our meeting place, from what I could see, he was holding four bags, presumably one to carry each gift separately.

_"Wait a minute, **four** bags?"_ I began to count in my head, _"One for Keira, Sig, and one for Torn. What's the fourth bag for?"_ And for the second time today, my memory jolted me into realization. I was missing one bag myself.

_"You IDIOT."_

I pivoted in the opposite direction, away from Jak, and sprinted back to the Bazaar. It was the middle of the day now, and flocks of people had began piling in, all desperate to be getting into the Haven Day spirit. I had gotten so wrapped up into getting Tess and Ashlein's gifts, I'd completely forgotten the most gift to buy of the lot.

_"Some kind of friend you are, Daxter..."_

This wasn't going to be like last time. This time I would try to get the gift in time, this time I would be a better friend, after all that he has done for me.

This time, I wasn't going to let Jak down.


	3. Chapter 2

**Jak**

* * *

I have to say, Haven's certainly changed a lot over the last few months, the atmosphere is just a lot more...relaxed. People were starting to smile a lot more now, what used to be sounds of screaming had been replaced by laughter, and the buildings were no longer on fire, so things have definitely improve, to say the least.

I suppose that's why we have something called Haven Day now, isn't it? It's been an entire year since the end of the dark days along with the metal head regime, and now, we can be grateful that no war had arisen for an entire year, and celebrate for it. I must admit, it felt good to be a part of that change, everything Dax and I had to go through could finally seem like it was worth something.

Daxter...

It was definitely safe to say that the two of us were inseparable, 12 years since the day we met, Back at Sandover, villagers would joke how we acted as one person, Daxter was the voice, since I had been mute, while I was the "pretty face" as Daxter had put it. In that way, we sort of needed each other; Daxter understood me a lot more than Samos or Keira did, so he could voice my thoughts and opinions to others. In return, I became somebody for him to talk to, when nobody else would bother to listen, laughing at his jokes and listening to his problems. The loudmouth and the mute, what a pair we were.

But then...there was a rift gate...then the prison and...then the worst 2 years of my life followed. I was imprisoned in a totally different environment, cramped full of people who were just as confused and scared as I was. It was hard to decide what was worse, that I had been put in the darkest form of hell, facing one torturous experiment after another, or that I was going through it all alone, without Daxter by my side to lift my mood up. I hardly had the strength to live through to the next day, both physically and emotionally, and I had began to wonder if surviving was really worth the effort.

That was until 2 years later, the day that I was released. I remember feeling a sudden burst of anger flow through me as I was untied from the experimental chair.

_"I'm gonna KILL Praxis!"_

Then the next thing I remembered was standing up, legs cramped and staring down at my savior. My best friend in the world, and the reason I chose to fight through each torture, staring right back at me in absolute shock. Daxter had come all this way to rescue me, an almost lost cause, and had probably risked his life countless times to do so. What was even more impressive, he had looked for 2  _years_ , and had not given up for a second of it.

I guess that's what did it for me, what made me realise what I had felt for a very long time. Daxter made me strong, and was the main motivation for me to become a "hero", but it wasn't just that. Daxter also made me happy, probably being the only person that could make me laugh, and gave me a more positive outlook on everything good and bad. He always had a sort of positive vibe surrounding him. Even when he was annoyed or frustrated, Daxter's jokes were more than enough to lift the mood, especially when I was the one feeling down. In shorter words, Daxter just made my life better in general, and because of that, I was faced with a daunting conclusion.

People might call me a freak, having feelings for an annoying orange-furred ottsel half my size, but I didn't see it like that.

I was in love with my best friend, it couldn't be more straightforward than that, and nothing could convince me otherwise. What made it hard was knowing that I had to keep all of that to myself. I couldn't tell anyone, especially Daxter. I knew exactly what would happen; first, he would have a look of shock, then an awkward space would follow, before Daxter decides that he can't even look me in the eyes. Our friendship wouldn't be the same, for good reason, and by the end, the result will severely hurt the both of may have kept a lot to each other, but this time, I was on my own.

Despite that, I didn't let it bother me too much. Daxter was still  _here_  with me, even if just as a friend, and I was extremely grateful for that. Getting worked up will only make things worse, and I could NOT let Daxter see me in a depressed state. I knew how stubborn he could get when it came to fixing problems...

Luckily for me, the bright banners and smiling atmosphere of reconstructed Haven was insistent on distracting me, and soon enough I became mesmerized. The last time Daxter and I had celebrated anything was over five years ago at Sandover, so it was a nice feeling getting back into tradition. Even the process of purchasing gifts gave me a good sense of nostalgia, even when it required getting up two hours earlier to beat the crowds, dragging a tired, reluctant ottsel along with me. No regrets there.

Getting a good gift for Torn, Sig and Keira was easier done than said. I had memorized all the right stalls to go for and made sure to get them out of the way as soon as possible. I'd bet that nobody would have guessed that I, of all people, would be the one making plans for a celebration. I was sure to show them, chances were that the others weren't even awake.

Daxter's gift however, wasn't so simple. Splitting up outside the Bazaar might have been part of my plan to share the workload between us, but it was also needed to get rid of Daxter for a while. I couldn't have  _him_  taking a sneak peak, now could I?

What took me the longest to plan, I'd have to say, was actually  _deciding_  on the perfect gift for Daxter. I wanted it to remind him of all the times we'd spent together, and all of the times we  _will_  spend together in the future. I wanted to make him feel appreciated for being my best friend, and that I would always be there for him, come hell or high water, as dramatic as it sounds.

I only just managed to make up mind on it a day ago, luckily, and it was perfect.

I sighed, leaning onto the nearest wall I could find. It was a fantastic day to be outside, the morning smelt fresh, the sky unpolluted with a clear cyan colour. I think even Daxter would agree that it was well worth getting up early.

_I wonder what's taking him so long..._

I checked the digital watch on my communicator, I had only been at the rendezvous for about twenty minutes. There was no real reason to be worried about anything yet, so why was I so paranoid? Maybe I should have given Daxter some suggestions on what to get Tess and Ashlein, but personally, I thought he would have a better idea on what to get them anyway.

It's not like I didn't have faith in him or anything, I knew that Daxter was capable of a lot of things, but I couldn't help but wonder, was it really a good idea to leave him alone in a Bazaar full of people who could step on him at any given moment? If Daxter wasn't back soon, the whole of Haven City's population would be on top of him, literally. After all, nothing in the Bazaar was this cheap until Haven Day season came along, so I wouldn't be surprised if people became more focused on better gift values, and not watching where they were stepping.

Another thought began to trouble me. What if none of the tellers took Daxter too seriously, or what if they thought he was some sort of rodent contaminating the stalls? Daxter was always with me when we bought supplies, safe on my shoulder, but now, he was fair game for pest extermination. I was so stupid.

I went back on my communicator, scrolling through contacts. I had to find him now, before the market got too populated, before anything bad happens. At a time like this, there was no way he could make it out by himse-

"Alright...I'm back, Jak!"

I looked down to see Daxter, panting in exhaustion. It didn't look like he was hurt, thank god, but he looked tired, almost as if he ran a marathon.

"Hey," I smiled folding my arms, "didn't have a hard time finding gifts, did we?" I relaxed, playing it casual.

"Nah...not for a second!" He looked up at me "what ya looking at?"

"Nothing in particular..." I put my communicator away, I needed to change the subject. "And what about you? Deciding on taking up morning runs?"

"Heh, in your dreams pretty boy," Daxter smirked "these feat aint made for running around, you know, that's supposed to be  _your_ job!"

"Sorry to make you go through such torture"

"Hey! You aint gonna see me complaining, Orange Lighting has it all under control!" Daxter held up the large bag he was holding, holding the gifts he had bought for Ashlein and Tess.

I reached down to grab the bag from Daxter, assuming he wanted me to carry it for him. He snatched it away.

"That's okay buddy...I can hold onto it myself." I could hear Daxter's voice slightly quicken. "I'll show ya when we get back..."

He had a point, we didn't need to look at what we bought now, that could wait until later. I let Daxter climb on my shoulder, like he always does, and we began our walk home.

"Ok, so we've got the painful part done and dusted, what do we do now, Jak?"

"Well..." I smiled, looking back at Daxter. "The 'Grand Feast' doesn't happen for a couple of hours, we could get the wrapping stuff out-of-the-way, and then try to kill some time from there?"

Daxter grinned back. "Sounds good to me!"

* * *

You'd think a double bedroom in the Royal Palace would look rather neat, wouldn't you? Our room was the shining, or not so shining, exception to that.

It wasn't a pigsty, but the mix of scattered clothing (obviously my fault), spilt tomato sauce (I could blame Daxter for that) and the adolescent stench of the room (probably the both of us) didn't really represent the "royal" part of the Palace all too well. That's probably why our room is the farthest from the main entrance though, wouldn't want to go scaring off visitors. With that being said, we were well used to the mess.

Tossing a couple of T-shirts aside, we sat ourselves down and got to business. It was then that Daxter and I both realized that neither of us bought any wrapping paper. It was a slight hole in the plan, but we decided to improvise with what we already had. It took us about 10 minutes to find a couple of well-sealed boxes within the room. Daxter even stole into the Palace's storage room to find extra boxes to fit our particular gifts.

I was impressed with what Daxter had bought, he seemed to have thought things through as much as I had. I was sure that Tess, and even Ashlein, would be happy with what they would get this year. I wasn't surprised that Daxter didn't get anything for me, but I didn't care. I think just him being here was enough to make me happy.

Oh god, I sound so cliche.

Once we were done with the boxing, we sat in the floor and began the next phase of the plan: figuring out on how to kill time. As far as Daxter and I knew, everyone else would be busy with their shopping at this point, so it would be just the two of us, that was good enough for me.

"We could run through the shooting range another time?" Daxter proposed.

I shook my head, I wanted something more relaxing "I think it would be a better idea to save our energy for the party, don't you agree?"

"Oh yeah, good point," Daxter nodded. "do you have any ideas?"

I thought for a moment. I would have just been fine sitting here all day, talking about life and it's meanings with Daxter, just the two of us. But I doubted Daxter was into that idea half as much as I was, chances were that it would probably just bore the hell outta him.

I decided to take a gamble "How about a movie?"

I saw a slight look of surprise on Daxter, or maybe it was shock. "...have they finished the Haven Cinemaplex already?"

"Yeah, we could see if anything's on and... maybe kill some time there?" I finished, as I saw Daxter looking away, locked into deep thinking.

"Hmm..."

I wasn't liking his facial expression, something was putting him off. Maybe Daxter wasn't a fan of movies, or just preferred something a little more exciting. Either way, I didn't want to force him into anything he disliked.

"We don't have to..."

Daxter looked back at me with widened eyes, as if he was in a daydream. "Oh no no no! That's a great idea Jak!" He started to smile again, "My mind was just in another place, that's all. What time were you thinking?"

I blinked "I was thinking about now..." I guess he was too focused on his thoughts to listen.

"Then in that case, let's getta move on Jak!"

I nodded as Daxter climbed onto my shoulder again as we got up to leave the room. He seemed to be back to his usual self now, but I couldn't help but notice something was out of character with him today. He just seemed...off about something. It was probably just the holiday season getting to him, it seemed to be changing a lot people in Haven. But still, I couldn't help but worry that there was something more to Daxter's quirky mood change.

_"Stop being so cynical"_

I tried to look on the bright-side. At least he was safe now, no more metal heads, Krimson Guard and free to spend more time with me, which, I guess by the end of the day, was all that really mattered. _  
_

Dammit, there I go again.


	4. Chapter 3

**Daxter**

* * *

_"Wow Daxter, just what the hell was that?"_  It was safe to say that I had come very close to majorly screwing things up for Jak a second time that day. Forgetting his gift was one thing, but nearly getting into a nervous fit over a  _movie,_  which Jak innocently suggested, had almost made me turn Haven Day into Awkward Day for the both of us. I may have felt a lot less tired than before, but boy were my thoughts still messed up as ever, and I wasn't doing a good job at hiding it.

We were now leaving the Palace for the second time that day, this time I was dragging Jak along, metaphorically, perhaps a bit too excitedly. I noticed that by this time all the palace bedrooms were empty, as we passed them through the main Palace corridor. It looked like everybody was serious about getting ready for the Haven Day festival/party tonight, including Torn And Ashlien, which surprised me; I never really saw either of them as the "life of the party".

Keira had told us that she was going to be behind the "pyrotechnics" of the event, the idea was both as exciting as it was nerve-racking to everybody else but hey; you could always count on a party being a blast with a bit of background explosions, pun totally intended.

I took another breath of the smoky Haven air as we made it outside once again. It was noon already, I didn't need a watch to tell me that because boy was it hot out there. At its peak temperature, Haven could be half way to hell; sure it wouldn't be Spargus-hot, but it still made ya sweat and look for shade like there's no tomorrow.

For once, I was the one telling Jak where we would go, an unusually funny change I would say. I spun around to face Jak, who was surprisingly far behind. I would've waited for him, but I needed to show Jak that I was enthusiastic for his movie idea. Even if I had to dramatize my performance, I wanted Jak to know that he hadn't been shot down; this was his day for saving Haven, after all.

"C'mon ya big slowpoke!" I was cupping my hands to my mouth, I could hear my voice carry through the main entrance. "We gonna do this or what?"

"...oh yeah. Ok I'm coming." Jak had picked up his speed, as if he had snapped out of a long train of thought. He seemed to be thinking something over, uncertain and, maybe even confused. Perhaps the lack of sleep had just caught up on him, and he was finally getting tired after the Having Day shopping fiasco, knowing Jak, however, chances were that there was something more to it than just tiredness. He looked uncomfortable; heh, I suppose that made two of us. I recomposed myself, wanting to straighten things out with Jak first.

"Hey Jak! You ok, buddy?" I asked as casually as I could, trying to keep up my act.

Hearing me, Jak began to snap out of whatever train of thought he had going for him, shaking himself both physically and mentally. He opened his mouth for a split second as if to respond, but then hesitated, something was definitely wrong. I tried again.

"C'mon, ya big lump. Spit it out!"

It was rude, I know, but I knew that with a guy like Jak, the sooner you get to a problem and bit it in the ass, the less time for that problem to manifest into something much worse. I of all people knew that it was never good to let Jak deal with his problems alone.

Jak finally answered "Are you really sure this is what you want to do Dax?" He looked down at me uncertainly, with a hand behind his head. "There are lots of other things out here we can do..."

I flinched,  _"Damn, so he did notice..."_ I REALLY needed to work on my acting skills, I made a mental note to take some lessons in theatre later.

I tried to keep up my failing-act anyway "W-what do you mean Jak?" I had this completely fake smile going on now, and I now I was stuttering "I've always been m-meaning to go to the movies..." It was no use, as I began taking a special interest in the ground, looking away from Jak in the process.

Jak started to shift from his uncomfortable state to a more relaxed one. He kneeled down to level with me, and looked me in the eyes.

"Dax, if there's something wrong, I want to know..." Jak had a concerned smile on his face now, the same one he always had when he was worried about me.

I tried one last time to keep up my lie, trying to be stubborn.

"I-I'm fine Jak. There's nothing wrong. Really..."

I looked up at Jak, as if to prove it, and I was met with an unconvinced look.

"Oh really? It certainly doesn't look like it from where I'm standing..." Jak smirked, the bastard actually smirked. At this point I knew I'd lost the lying-game with Jak, he was my best friend after all, knowing me all to well.

I sighed "Yeah I know, you're right. I'm sorry," I took a deep breath, "I've just got a lot on my mind right now, okay?" It really sucks when you have to admit you're wrong.

Damn him, here I thought I was going to be the one trying to make Jak's day go well, but now I've gotten him all worried about me.

"Really? Like what?" It seemed like Jak really wanted to get tot the root of the problem. Like I said, he really could be overprotective of me at times, and boy was he stubborn at doing it!

_"_ It's hard to explain..." Heh, it really was. How the hell do you explain to your best friend that you've snooped through their most personal, and private, diary, only to discover that they have a crush on you, leaving you all dazed, confused and not sure what to think?

Jak had an even more concerned look on his face now. But after a couple of moments passed, Jak greeted me with a smile, he didn't seem so worried now.

"Well, if you can't tell me now, that's fine by me, but I won't let this ruin our day to relax and enjoy ourselves..." He put a hand in my shoulder "I know you'll sort it out eventually, but let's try to have some fun today, ok?"

I didn't know what to say, the tables had really turned here, but Jak was giving me an easy way out. It was weird, I thought Jak would've been more stubborn than that. And now he's trying to get me to relax!?

" _I thought I was the comic relief here! What's the world coming to?"_ I knew that I needed to sort my own thoughts out, before I started acting like an idiot again.

"I..uh...thanks, Jak." I awkwardly sputtered. It'd certainly been a while since Jak and I had one of our "deeper" conversations.

"No problem" Jak replied, any sign of uncertainty Jak was having before had vanished, and now I was the only emotional wreck in this conversation. God, I was never great at emotional encounters when it was directed at me. I mean, sometimes they're GREAT and all, but I always have this fear, a fear that I might say something that might completely ruin my reputation or something. I needed to break the ice.

"OK OK, enough'a this emotional crap!' I snapped, bluntly. "We gonna be heading to the movies or what?" I practically leapt onto Jak's shoulder, this time I was actually eager to get going.

"Alright, alright, we're going!" Jak chuckled, amused. We began heading towards the nearest zoomer "If you behave like a good boy, I might even get you some popcorn..."

"HEY!"

_"Ok, we're bickering again...things are getting back to normal..."_  I let out a silent sigh, just enough so Jak couldn't hear me.

We began heading towards the nearest zoomer, and unlike many other times, this one actually  _belonged_  to us. As we got on, I still had an uneasy feeling inside of me, and I wasn't even sure why.

It didn't take long to get to the movies, but whether it was due to the zoomer's speed capabilities, or Jak's risky driving, I wasn't sure. The Cinemaplex was massive, and I mean MASSIVE. I knew that the construction of the place had taken months but, wow; it had only been open for a couple of weeks and you could tell. It was very easy to spot among the dull buildings next to it, with unlit neon signs of different colors everywhere. They even had this fancy rotating door, I don't see how you would need one, but it looked pretty fancy.

We got inside to find exactly 3 people inside the entire Cinemaplex, all of which were employees engaged in conversation, with the rest of the place completely deserted. Jak and I looked at each other, we weren't really sure what to do.

"I guess it's not surprising," Jak grinned sheepishly, as if it was his fault "with everybody out and about getting ready for tonight, I should have guessed this place was going to be empty!" Frankly, I was surprised that the place was even OPEN on Haven Day.

"Well at least there ain't any lines or crowds!" I responded cheerfully, this was a nice change of pace, it was an entirely different atmosphere to what had happened outside. At least here I wouldn't run the risk of being stepped on. We walked up to the guys at the counter to ask for movie recommendations, you could tell how surprised they were to actually find customers, even more so when they recognized who we were.

"Oh wow...it's really you two!" One of them said, rather excitedly. He turned over to his co-worker "Alright Jess pay up! I knew we were gonna have some customers this afternoon, but none other than the Demolition Duo themselves!" The guy seemed nice enough, so we struck up a conversation with him.

His name was Finn, he told us, and explained that his father was the manager of the entire Cinemaplex, and had left him and his two siblings, Jess and Redd, to run the place, while he was out Haven Day shopping.

"Wow, that must be...really boring" I said, somewhat amazed "Your old man must really hate ya, if he's making you spend Haven Day all cooped up in here!"

"Nah, I understand, he needs the fresh the air anyway!" Finn replied "Besides, I like the quiet, it's usually very busy here, so it's nice. You guys want something to eat?"

A few seconds later, Finn had brought us some popcorn and drinks, and I decided that I liked the guy. Who knew there were so many nice people in Haven? I could only remember the amount of times we've been scowled at for trying to help this place, but it was good to know people like Finn actually appreciated our help.

Jak already had the orbs in his hand to pay Finn, but he shook his head.

"Just pick any room, and Redd'll get a movie started up for you" Finn smiled "Don't worry, it's on me. Just don't tell my Dad, ok?"

Yep, I definitely liked this guy. "What's the movie?"

"I'll surprise you"

Finn pointed our way through to a viewing room and we settled ourselves in. Jak sat in his own seat while I, due to certain height problems, opted to remain on his shoulder, trying to find a comfortable position to sit down, making sure the popcorn was within reach.

I'm not the type of person who enjoys staying still for long periods of time, that includes sleeping, but I was actually enjoying this movie. It was about this guy who discovers he has the power to turn back time for up to a day, as tries to use this power to get this chick to fall in love with him. The romance was a bit sappy, yeah, but I also found myself laughing near to the point of falling off of Jak's shoulder, so you could say I liked it. I ended up rooting for this guy to get the girl, strangely enough, especially during the 'sad' parts of the film, I swear I felt a pain in my chest when the guy realized the girl was in love with somebody else. I guess I'm a hopeless romantic after all.

Halfway through the movie, I noticed that Jak on the other hand, was way out of it. He was looking at the screen, but he wasn't really  _looking_ at the screen, as if he was watching the movie. It's hard to explain, but it seemed like Jak was in his own world, deep in thought.

"Hey Jak..." I whispered in his ear, not like there was anyone who could hear us, but it's a habit you develop after countless movie nights. Jak didn't seem to hear me though, so I tried again "Hey Jak..EARTH TA JAK! DO YOU READ ME?"

Whatever trance Jak was in, he snapped right out of it, blinking twice "Oh sorry Dax...what's up?"

"I could ask the same question." I replied, folded arms and all "What's the matter with you? You've been acting up all day..." I couldn't take it anymore, I knew something was up with Jak, and I wanted to nip this mystery in the ass as soon as I could.

_"It's certainly not the movie bothering him...or maybe..."_

Oh. My. God.

The diary...a trip to the movies...a romantic comedy about a one-sided romance...

I'm an idiot, I really am. Why didn't I guess this before?

Of course Jak was gonna feel uncomfortable with going to the movies, much less a ROMANTIC comedy, cause that's what  _couples_  did, GOD was I stupid.

By this time Jak had an answer "Yeah, sorry Dax, I was just daydreaming again..." That confirmed it, the irony of it all was getting to him. I had only imagined something like that happening between Jak and Keira (god that would've been HILARIOUS for me), not with  _me,_ of all people!

I could see that Jak was uncomfortable now, which begged the question: how was  _I_  feeling about this? I hadn't even considered my own feelings since reading that diary, too shocked at the fact that my best friend had a crush on me to actually think about myself. This entire situation was surreal, I definitely couldn't remember seeing any 'hero falls for his best friend and side-kick' romantic movies, that's for sure!

We left the Cinemaplex shortly after the movie finished. Jak had wanted to thank Finn for the free movie, and gave him and his siblings a pass to the special Haven Day party inside the Palace.

I was gonna need some time, maybe even some help, to figure this situation out, or more specifically, to figure myself out. Sure, I felt weird and all, but I didn't feel particularly bad about it either.

Maybe it was just the movie, maybe...


	5. Chapter 4

**Keira**

* * *

I wiped my forehead for the hundredth time as I finished working on yet another lighting rig, wrench in hand and sweat on my forehead. I began to regret volunteering as Head of Construction and Decoration for the Haven Day party, putting so many lights and effects into the design as a result. I wasn't even halfway done with the lights, and only had a couple hours left until the big event. But that didn't matter, I worked better under a deadline anyway. What can I say? I liked a bit of stress now and again, keeps me more alert.

Ashlien had made sure to make tonight's venue huge, to make room for everyone, with the general public allowed in the entrance halls and the main dining room, while invited guests were given access to the upper floors and balconies overlooking the city. I, along with the many chefs, cleaners and other serviceman, had a LOT of work to do.

I got up, walked the hall once more and started setting up the next bunch of lights. By this time, doing the lights had become an automatic process for me, and my mind began to wonder. This was incredibly boring, I could've built a brand new zoomer in this amount of time, maybe two even. I still remembered the first one I ever built, back in Sandover Village, when Jak and Daxter wanted my help, and how proud I felt for being useful.

It was only a short after the Gol and Mia incident when I started to have feelings for Jak, and for many years I believed that Jak felt the same way, with the amount of times we nearly kissed being ridiculous. Phone ver, a few months ago, Jak set me straight.

I still remember the day now; Jak's father had passed away, and I had come to comfort him about it. I wrapped my arms around him, and told him that I would always be there for him, with a romantic undertone. When Jak realised what I was implying, he cleared everything up.

_"I'm sorry Keira"_ He told me with a sad look  _"but I'm in love with someone else already"_

_"Who?"_   _I asked him, devastated by his rejection._

_"I...can't tell you. I can't tell anyone..." He wouldn't say anything after that._

That's what gave me the idea to give Jak the diary in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I was still upset about Jak, but decided that if I really loved him, then I should instead try to help make Jak happy in anyway I can. As far as I know, it's been good therapy for Jak, helping him vent about his troubled past, although I still didn't know who the lucky girl that held Jak's affections were.

I smiled to myself, so long as Jak, my childhood friend, crush and comrade, was happy, I could deal with that.

_"I wonder what he's up to right now"_ I thought, as I was finishing the lighting in the hall.

Speak of the devil, I heard the main doors open, as I turned to see none other than Jak and Daxter themselves enter.

"Oh hey guys!" I called to them with as much energy as I could muster.

"Hey Keira, what brings you here?" Jak had a small smile on his face "Still working hard on a public holiday?"

"Yeah!" Daxter exclaimed. "Shouldn't you be out and about buying presents and, you know, having fun?"

"Who said working on pyrotechnics wasn't fun?" I retorted, which gave me an eye roll from both of them "And besides, I'm supposed to be setting up for the Haven Day party tonight, remember?"

"I thought you'd be done by now" Jak smirked "Did you sleep in?"

"Yeah...kinda" I admitted. "Only because I spent last night planning the whole thing."

Jak looked around. "Do we really need so many lights?"

"Of course we do!" I replied. "If it's gonna be the first Haven Day party it has to be huge!"

"Wait a second...what about the gift shopping?!" Daxter almost shouted in realisation. "Don't tell me you've forgotten to get something for your Ol' Daxxie?"

"Don't worry, I've got them bought and wrapped" I almost laughed. Leave it to Daxter to worry about gifts on Haven Day. "I didn't want to deal with any crowds when I bought my presents, so I planned ahead."

"You were always one to plan ahead, Keira." Jak smiled "We could learn a thing or two from you"

"Provided you won't charge for teaching us" Daxter added with a laugh, now relieved.

I smiled back at them, uplifted by their compliment. "Ok, that's enough about me, what have you two been up to?"

"Well..." Jak started "Daxter and I bought our presents in the morning.."

"In the EARLY morning" Daxter interjected with a cough, earning a quick glare from Jak.

"And after wrapping them, we got bored and decided to head for a movie."

"A movie?" I asked, interest piqued "Is the Cinemaplex open already?"

"I know! And there weren't any lines either, cause everyone else was out buying gifts!" Daxter gloated excitingly. "We should definitely go there more often!"

"Was the movie any good?" I stopped trying to work on the lights by now. I was intrigued.

Jak looked away "It was alright I guess..." He said, trailing off. It didn't take a genius to realise that his mind was on something else.

"Alright!?" Daxter responded, turning to Jak "It was hilarious! It had comedy, fantasy, and even a bit of romance for good measure!"

Jak shrugged "It's not my sort of genre, I suppose."

"Blasphemy!"

"Alright, you two" I interrupted, "You can bicker someplace else, but I still have these lights to do by tonight, so scram." I then added with a smile "See you two tonight!"

"Alright then" Jak smiled back, turning his head to Daxter "We should probably get some rest before the big party, right Dax?"

"Couldn't agree more! I gotta get some energy before I get my boogie on!"

Jak groaned "Please don't say 'boogie', Daxter"

"Oh don't be such a spoilsport!"

I watched the two walk out into the corridor, presumably to their rooms, and continued to work on the lighting. I sighed, those two never failed to amuse me.

I got back to work, letting myself get lost in my own train of thought as I made my way to the stairs. I only had the upper floor left to do, and then I could have some time to myself.

Reaching the top of the stairs I scoped out what I had left to do. The upper floor was smaller than its lower floor, but I knew the lighting and decoration would take just as long, if not longer. This was where the special guests would be, and so the decorations and lighting would need to be fancier. I had already laid out the materials and a box of decorations on a makeshift workbench at the back of the room. It stood in front of a massively daunting wall, yet to be painted. I would start working there.

I could feel my feet aching as I walked to the back of the room, but my mind had gotten back into work-mode. It was only when I reached the workbench my communicator went off. I reached in my pocket, wondering who would want to call me at this hour, and grabbed it. The call was coming from Daxter.

I was surprised. Why would Daxter want to talk to me? Jak was always the one who called me, with Daxter at his side. Heck, I was surprised that Daxter even had a communicator.

_Oh why not..._

I pressed on the communicator screen, accepting the call. Daxter appeared on the screen.

Daxter spoke first.  _"Heeeey Keira...how's it going?"_ I could tell Daxter was uncomfortable; stretching out his words, and scratching his head, both very nervously. This wasn't a prank call, as I had guessed it might be, and this certainly wasn't the Daxter I spoke to earlier that day.

I replied, with a sigh "Daxter, if you're trying to find out what present I got you, you'll just have to wait." Daxter shook his head quickly.

"Oh no no no, that's not it! I just..." He hesitated. "Can I talk to you, just you and me, in private?" He finished, biting his lip.

A private conversation with Daxter. Didn't expect that.

"Well...normally it would be fine, but I'm still busy preparing for tonight." I replied. "The way things are looking, I'm gonna be stuck here for a few more hours."

Daxter looked away. "Oh...yeah that. Damn." I could tell he was thinking, and hard.

A few seconds later, Daxter's face lit up with an idea. "I could help you finish the decorations, if you want!" His tone was desperate. "I know a thing or two about building stuff, so how hard could it be? AND, it would free up more your time too!"

That wasn't a bad idea, actually, and the idea of free time was incredibly convincing. What bothered me was  _why_ Daxter wanted to do it.

I gave him a look. "You're willing to give up your free time because you want to talk with me? What's this about, Daxter?"

Daxter looked around him, what for I wasn't sure. "I...think it'd be better to talk about it face to face..." Now I really was curious, what could be so private?

"Well...ok then. I'll see you in the hall, I'm on the upper floor." I finally responded.

Daxter nodded. "Alrighty then, thanks Keira." He hung up.

I put my communicator away.  _Thanks for what? I haven't done anything yet._

Daxter arrived a few minutes later, holding a wrench, and waved at me. "Hey again, long time no see, huh!"

I smiled, Daxter seemed a bit more his usual self.

"So you really wanted to work huh?" I said.

"If it gets this done faster, definitely!"

"Where's Jak?" I asked. "He's almost always with you, isn't he?"

Daxter hesitated. "He's...sleeping, I think." He made a small laugh. "I guess the early morning caught up with him, heh heh."

I raised an eyebrow. "And you're not tired at all?"

"Couldn't sleep." Daxter replied with a shrug, looking down. He quickly looked back at me with a grin. "So are we gonna do this or what?"

There was definitely something Daxter wanted to get off his chest; he seemed more timid than confident today, and he was trying his very best to hide it.

_"But why?"_

"Alright! Alright! I'll show you the plans!" I said, putting my hands up in mock-defense. "You can help me with the lighting if you're so eager!"

"Aye-aye!"

We went to work, without saying another word. While Daxter vouched to do the lighting, I got to the decorating, passing the box filled with lighting and wires to Daxter while grabbing a hammer and paintbrush for myself. I wanted to go with a simple design; black painted walls at the back and front of the room, side walls covered with midnight-blue drapes, with a bit of Precursor-styled wall decoration for good measure. This place needed to look simple yet effective, without anything distracting, not even the lighting.

Daxter didn't say a word to me while he was working, save for when he needed another tool, or to double check the lighting positions. He didn't do a sloppy job of it either, with his recent skill for fixing cars translating surprisingly well into fixing up lighting, Daxter was almost a different person; focusing intensely, not even making a complaint or a wisecrack. For once, I wasn't sure if that was a good thing, something was definitely troubling him. I began working even faster.

By the time Daxter and I were finished, I slumped against the newly decorated wall in a tired mess. It looked great, but boy did it do a number on me. Daxter seemed just as exhausted as I was, stretching his arms behind his head as he sat down next to me.

"How'd I do, Keira?"

"You did well Daxter, really well!" I exclaimed. "I've never seen you work like that in the garage..."

"Well, you know what they say;" Daxter looked at me. "Where there's a will, there's a way!"

"You don't say..." I looked back at him, it seemed like a good time to talk now. "Wanna drink?" I asked.

"Yes please!"

I stood up from my spot, and walked myself over to where I had left my bag; next to the top of the stairs. I opened it up to grab two bottles of water, which I had luckily stocked up in before construction, and took them over to where Daxter and I were sitting.

Daxter took one of the bottles and gulped about half of it down before speaking. "So..." He started. "As you could probably tell, I really, really need your help!"

I nodded, drinking some of my water as he continued.

"The reason is...God, how do I word this?" Daxter looked down at his empty bottle and paused to think. He looked up at me before saying "I sorta need advice on...romance." I could see Daxter cringe slightly.

I blinked. "Romance?"

"Yeah, the sappy romantic stuff, I really need your help."

I could not believe it.  _That's what Daxter wanted to talk to me about? That's why he offered to help?_ "Why do you wanna ask me?" I asked.

"I don't know...you seem to be the closest person I can talk to."

"What about Jak?"

"Well..." Daxter hesitated. "That's the funny thing, actually." Daxter wasn't even facing my direction anymore, and I had a bad feeling that I knew why.

"How so?" I finally asked.

"I...think he has a thing for me" Daxter said in a hurry, as if he finally told me a terrible secret.

I took a breath, processing the fact inside my head, and thinking what to say in return. What felt like hours later I finally managed to speak.

"...a thing?"


	6. Chapter 5

**Jak**

* * *

The room was dimly lit when I woke up. My head felt heavy and my eyes were only just opening when I decided to get out of bed. I was well rested, the nap had made sure of that, and for a second I thought I had slept in too late, until I looked at my communicator's clock. _"Still an hour to get ready, that's good"_  I thought to myself.

I remembered telling Daxter that we needed to get some rest before the big party, to which Daxter agreed. The gift shopping and the movie had completely spent our energy, and I'd wanted nothing more than to get some sleep.

Which reminded me,  _"Where did Daxter go?"_ I checked where his hammock was, and found nothing. It looked like Daxter had gotten up early than I had, which I found strange, considering how much he'd complained about getting up early this morning. I shrugged it off, maybe the party excited him enough to get up early, that was easily possible.

Now was the matter of where Daxter was, and what he was doing at this time. I really hoped he wasn't bothering any of the Palace guards again, or any of the maids, cooks, mechanics and guests, for that matter. Today was not a day I wanted to be in anybody's way.  _"I should probably look for him…for everyone's sake."_

I had slept in my clothes, a common habit, giving them the same rugged, messy look they usually had. I couldn't go out wearing this, let alone to a formal V.I.P party. After a few minutes, I settled for a new shirt, plain black, with brown pants, nice and simple. I didn't bother putting on my armor plates, and left them under my bed. It's supposed to be a party, not a warzone, after all. I combed my hair to look a little less scruffy, and put on my shoes before grabbing my communicator and leaving the room.

I had decided the most likely place to start looking for Daxter would be at the Palace's private bar, another place reserved only for special residents. If I had to guess where Daxter was, it would be there, with Daxter 'training' his drinking stamina, in preparation for the inevitable after party.

I took to the corridor at a speed walk, reaching the bar in mere minutes. This wasn't the first time I went to this bar, looking for Daxter, and so I knew the place fairly well. It had no official name, being a small private bar, although Daxter had dubbed it "The Ottsel's Heart" once during a drunk episode, and the name sort of stuck. There was only one row of stools in front of the bartender, and Daxter was nowhere in sight.

There was, however, one person sitting at the bar alone. I took a seat next to Torn.

"Didn't think I'd find you here." I started, adjusting my seating position as I turned to face him.

"Hey Jak," Torn turned his head back at me. "Don't you look all dolled up? What brings you here?" He was holding an empty glass, of what I assumed used to be alcohol.

"I was looking for Daxter," I replied. "You seen him around?"

"Not since yesterday…no." Torn looked back down at his glass. He didn't look prepared for a formal party at all, I noticed, which begged a question.

"You planning on going to the party?" I asked him. I could see Torn grimace for a quick second.

"Nah..." Torn replied. "I'm not much of a party-guy."

"Why not? You know Ashlien's gonna be there…"

"I know, I know!" Torn rolled his eyes. "That doesn't mean I have to go..."

"Even if it means not watching Daxter make a complete fool of himself?"

"Doesn't he always?" Torn countered. We both laughed at that; Torn was getting better with his sense of humor.

"Yeah, I guess so…" I finally said. "But c'mon Torn! It wouldn't be the same without your bundle of optimism…"

"Ha ha, very funny, smartass." Torn rolled his eyes in slight annoyance, as if he was talking to Daxter instead of me. He seemed to appreciate the sentiment, however as he added "I'll think about it, OK?"

I smiled back at him as I got up to leave the bar. "Take care of yourself, alright Torn?"

Torn nodded in return. "Will do, make sure Daxter doesn't do something too stupid, ok? We have a reputation to uphold with Haven."

"You sound a lot like Ashlien."

"And YOU sound a lot like Daxter."

"Touché." I said, as I waved Torn a small good bye. I had my back to him, so I wasn't quite sure if he waved back, but I had a good feeling he did.

I was still left with the problem of finding Daxter, and so I went back to our room to see if Daxter had returned. Still nothing.  _"Where is he?"_ I thought to myself for the hundredth time. I checked the Palace kitchens, nothing. The Meeting Room, nothing. Every time I checked a room, I got more and more worried about what might have happened to Daxter.

It was only when I decided to look in the main hall. I could see that the place had been thoroughly painted and decorated for tonight, which got me all the more excited, and all the more anxious to find Daxter. I called for Keira.

"Hey, Keira! Are you in here?" After a few seconds I got an answer.

"Oh…hey Jak!" It was Keira's voice, and I could hear it coming from the upper floor. "I'm upstairs."

I promptly dashed up the stairs, calling back to her "You don't happen to know where Daxter is, do you?" I had reached the top of the stairs when I was greeted with an answer.

"I'm right here, Jakkie Boy!" Daxter called back to be with a smirk. "Did you miss me that quickly? My charm must be warming up for the big night!" This got him a stare from Keira.

"If that's what you want to believe." I replied, rolling my eyes but deep down sighing with relief. "What are you doing here with Keira?"

"Daxter wanted to help me out with the decorations." Keira replied looking back up at me with a smile. "I told him what to do, and we got on with it!"

"Wait..." I put on a fake look of shock and said "Daxter…actually did some work?" Torn was right in calling me a smartass.

"Yer damn right I did!" Daxter retorted. "And I we were the fastest constructors ever to grace the Palace! Orange Lighting Keira Combo, baby!"

Of course, I had to roll my eyes.

"Well, I hope you dress as fast as you work, cause the big party's in less than an hour."

"I only wear pants, Jak."

"I wasn't talking to you."

Keira smiled. "I think I'll stick to what I'm wearing." She said, dusting her clothes off. "A little paint never ruined anything!"

"Fair enough." I nodded. "Not like we could stop you anyway…"

"Oh ease off, it's just a party!"

"I know, I know." I held my hands up in defense. I looked back at Daxter. "C'mon Dax, we should probably head back to our room to fetch the gifts."

Daxter hopped onto my shoulder with an "Aye aye, Jak!" as we hurried back to our rooms, wasting no time at all.

It didn't take long to bunch up all our wrapped presents into one paper bag, as they were all fairly small gifts. We had been informed in the briefing that the Haven Day gifts, the ones our group had bought for each other, would be stored in the meeting room during the party, only to be opened after the opening ceremony.

And that's exactly what we did. The bag wasn't particularly heavy, although I refused Daxter's suggestion that he carry it, and the meeting room wasn't much of a walk either. We've definitely been through a lot worse, which was easy to say. That was always easy to say nowadays.

Inside the meeting room lay a huge stack of gifts and accessories, some of which I could tell were from Keira and Tess, there was even a pile of presents that came from Torn, which surprised Daxter.

"Wait, Torn got us something?!" Daxter exclaimed. "I didn't think the guy had a festive bone in him!"

"Me neither…" I agreed. "I guess he didn't want to be the odd one out."

"Or…he wanted to earn some brownie points from his dear-beloved-Ashlien…" I could see Daxter smirk, just as much as he could see me roll my eyes once again.

"C'mon, Dax, we should be at the hall right now." I walked out the meeting room, letting Daxter follow behind me.

We had made it there early, with enough time to make our way to the upper floor of the hall before the rest of the guests were allowed to rush in. The main lights of the hall had been dimmed down by this time, showing off the decorative lighting, which consisted of orange and black, that Keira and Daxter had placed. You could tell by the noise that hundreds of guests had already arrived, chattering with interest and excitement about the first party they would have had in years.

It appeared that Keira had been going for a Precursor themed style, and she had done well; with the lights cleverly disguised as large Precursor orbs, scraps of metal carefully placed around the top and bottom floors, all gave a steam-punk vibe. Keira definitely never half assed her work, that was for sure.

I turned my head to Daxter, who was still behind me. "I can't believe you helped Keira with all this!" I exclaimed.

"Well, believe it!" Daxter grinned. "I've got decorative skills like you've never seen!"

"Then maybe we should let you decorate for every party…"

"Uh...I think Keira's better."

I smiled, this was the Daxter I was used to. I cringed back the awkward memories from earlier today, which only now had I remembered. I focused my attention to the party, having a good time was top priority.

I struck up a conversation with multiple guests, of which I only vaguely knew, but all in very high spirits. It was mainly small talk; how Haven has improved, racing results, family members moving in, that sort of stuff, all of which engaged me. It was strange hearing people talk about matters unrelated to war or tragedy, and was another refreshing change to Haven.

I heard the sound of somebody tapping a microphone, and the noise quieted down. I already knew Ashlien would be giving the speech.

"Citizens of Haven!" Ashlien's voice boomed, commanding attention. "It is a great honor to finally grant Haven the day it deserves; a day it needs, and a day we've wanted for far too long!" The entire hall cheered. Ashlien had a positive, yet powerful tone, with a hint of excitement thrown in, which made her speech all the more motivating.

Ashlien continued. "Let this day and its festivities be remembered as the first of many, and raise a glass for those who've fought and fallen to make this day possible."

I wasn't sure what to do at that point, as I had no glass to raise. The clinking of glasses surrounded the area as I looked down at the floor, and remembered that Daxter wasn't actually with me.

I was beginning to annoy myself.  _"You can't go for five minutes without worrying about him."_ However, when I began to look around the room, I couldn't see Daxter anywhere.

Upon further looking, and much more worrying, I found Daxter in the last place I would have expected. Outside on the upper balcony, Daxter sat on the stone railing facing away from the party inside, with his feet hanging off the edge.

"Didn't think I'd find you out here." I said, leaning on the ledge next to him, looking out towards the rest of Haven.

"Gah!" Daxter jumped in shock, thankfully not falling off the ledge, and standing up. "Ya scared me Jak!"

I smirked in reply. "So what brings you out here?

"I...uh...got bored." Daxter replied, looking back out at the view, fidgeting with his thumbs.

"C'mon Dax, surely the guests aren't that 'boring' to talk to…" I said only half joking.

Daxter grimaced. "Yeah I know…"

"Then what's wrong?" My tone went serious, as I saw Daxter's teeth grit even further, hands clenching side to side.

"N-nothing's wrong Jak, I'm fine!"

"Don't lie to me Daxter." I wasn't going to back down, not until I made sure BOTH of us were having a good time. "If there was nothing wrong, you'd be inside enjoying yourself. So what's the matter?"

"I-I can't tell you…"

"Why not?" I smiled again, this time with compassion. "You're my best friend, remember? I doubt there is a thing in the world you could say that would piss me off!" I then added "Not permanently, at least".

"Wanna bet?" Daxter made a small laugh, giving off a dark tone.

"Fifty precursor orbs says it won't."

Daxter looked down off the balcony in deep thought. For a second I thought he was considering jumping off the ledge, and turned myself closer to watch him in case he did.

It might have been a minute, or ten, until Daxter said "God Jak, I'm sorry…"

"Sorry?" I had guessed this had something to do with me, remembering the awkward emotional moments that had passed with us during the last few hours, but I didn't expect Daxter being the one to apologize. As far as I remembered, Daxter hadn't done anything wrong, not today at least. "For what?"

There was another long pause, this time with even more tension. I saw Daxter's nervous mood amplify, closing his eyes as if this was some nightmare, still clenching his fists. I looked away from him, hoping to give Daxter some space.

It was then when I heard him whisper, in a way i'd never heard him before. "The diary, Jak..."

"The diary?" I repeated, feeling worse by the second. "What about it?"

"I...I read it Jak. I-I...read it all."

"You..." I trailed off.  _But that would mean..._

Daxter knew everything.

This changed everything.

And the only thing I said in return was "Oh." before I slowly turned and walked away.


	7. Chapter 7

**Daxter**

* * *

 

One thought came across me:  _"I should be following him, what the hell am I doing here?"_  Which was followed by another:  _"I've made enough mistakes tonight, I'll only make things worse."_

I watched Jak turn and walk back inside the Palace, and looked back at the view of Haven City. Today had been filled with awkward moments; each one I'd managed to ottsel my way through, with little to no consequence, my friendship with Jak intact. This time was different though, and as a result I might have just lost my best friend.

It was inevitable; Jak had to know sometime. I couldn't bear to imagine what would happen if I'd left him in the dark, I'd be lying to him for the rest of my life, with a guilt hanging over my head. Now I stood there, alone and filled with regret. Pretty crappy mood to be in during a party, not that Jak was feeling any better either; poor guy. I wouldn't be surprised if he flat out decided not to talk to me, it's probably the least I deserve anyway.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid. If you hadn't looked for that goddamn diary, things would've been ok. What kind of friend goes through their friend's personal stuff anyway?_

I closed my eyes, a rush of suggestions and opinions flowing through my mind, each with an undertone of "what the hell am I supposed to do?" I needed to make things right, that much I knew.

_But how can I do that without making things wrong?_

I weighed all the possible options. But the only sensible one came clear to me: I had to follow Jak. I needed to set things straight with him, whether he'll still want to be friends or not, I owed Jak an explanation.

_It's not like I could make things worse…actually scratch that. Nothing good ever comes when you say something like that._

There was nothing for it, and the night wasn't over yet. I jumped off the barrister and ran back inside, leaving any worrying, or rational, thoughts behind me.

I remembered the conversation I had with Keira earlier that day. I told her everything, about the diary, Jak, and the events that followed after that night, overloading her with information. She was surprised,  _yeah no kidding,_ but immediately went serious when I finished talking. I could remember the way she scowled at me for "Invading Jak's privacy", to which I shamefully agreed with, but also the advice she gave me.

" _You need to tell him how you feel."_

" _But I don't KNOW how I feel."_

" _Then tell him that, just tell him the truth."_

That messed me up the most.  _What was the truth? What am I going to say to Jak?_ Even now I had no idea, but if I had to, I'd come up with it on the spot.

I wasted no time making my way through the hall, passing around and even through the legs of countless party-goers. Thankfully nobody seemed to notice, both due to the distraction of the party and the convenience of my height, and so I snuck through undetected. The last thing I wanted was to be seen by someone I knew; if they saw me acting like this, they'd definitely ask questions. If it came to that I'd have to tell either an unbelievable lie, or an even more unbelievable truth. I didn't have the time, or patience to commit to a conversation, not now.

_The only friend I should be talking to right now is Jak, no point in complicating things by getting anyone else involved._

Thankfully, I managed my way through both the upper and lower floors of citizens with little effort and nobody noticing. When you're having that much fun at a party, no-one pays attention to little details such as myself.

I wasn't completely sure where I was going; for all I knew, Jak could've left the Palace entirely, just to be alone. If that was the case, I'd be in for a long walk through Haven City, searching for someone who doesn't want to be found. By instinct I choose the first place I expected Jak to go; the first place  _I'd_ go if I wanted to be alone, away from the attention.

Guards were stationed outside the hallway to our rooms, presumably to prevent unwanted guests access, and had no trouble recognizing me.  _Yeah, who wouldn't?_  The front door to our room was closed, which was both a good thing and bad.

Jak never left the door closed untill both or neither of us were in the room,  _or if doesn't want me to go inside._ The closed door indicated he was here, but it also indicated that he wanted to be alone. I reconsidered my options for only one second before knocking on the door with all the nerve in the world.

There was an air of silence before I heard a response. "Who is it?" There was no doubt that was Jak's voice, but it sounded different, withdrawn somehow.

It was time to rip off the bandage. "Hey-ya Jak, it's me…" I called, my tone of uncertainty matching his, and quiet enough for no-one else to hear. This wasn't going to be a fun conversation, but I knew what I had to do. "…can I come in?"

The moment of silence that followed was the scariest thing in the world, but I stayed by the door anyway. I wanted this whole fiasco, the diary, Jak's feelings, and dancing around each other's emotions to end, one way or another, and I wanted it to be over quick.

I persevered. "I know what I did was wrong, really wrong. If I could go back in time and smack myself, I would." My head rested on the door.  _Tell him the truth._  "But we NEED to talk about this, Jak. I'm not sure how you're feeling right now, but me? I'm  _terrified_. Not because of the diary, not because you  _like_ me, that doesn't bother me!"

I closed my eyes. "What bothers me is that I don't even know how I feel, and I don't know what to do about it, not without hurting you. I-I care about you Jak, I always will, no matter what happens from now on."

When I finished talking, I was still met with no answer. Taking that as a message, I turned to leave. "I guess I'll see you around, Jak. Or not, I guess that's ok too…"

I had only made it halfway down the hall when I heard the door open hurriedly, its occupant rushing out of the room, sprinting down the hallway. "Daxter, wait!"

I spun around, and before I knew it Jak was kneeling right in front of me. I didn't know what to say, and I don't think he knew either, so we just stared. I saw a mixture of anxiety and relief in his eyes, but he didn't look angry.  _That's a good start…_ Chances were, I looked exactly the same; I didn't know what was about to happen, but I was prepared for anything.

And then Jak smiled.  _Wait, WHAT?!_ He softly spoke. "We are such idiots."

"I-what?!" I stuttered, completely blindsided.

Jak sat down next to me, leaning against a wall. He sighed. "I'm not mad at you, Dax, I could never be mad at you. I'm just…scared, at how fast this is all going. No matter what we do, things are going to change between us, now that you know...everything, and that really scares me. We've been friends for years, and now after all that's happened...what are we?" Jak looked up at the ceiling.

I sat down next to him, adopting the same position. "I…don't know…" It seemed that was my only certain answer.

Jak turned his face at me and smiled again, this time sadly. "Hey, we can still be friends, can't we? I mean, now that everything's out the bag, I don't have to hide any secrets from you. We can just ignore it, it'll be fine…"

I hit the ground in frustration. "But that's the thing, Jak! I don't want to ignore… _this_!" I sighed, there was no going back now. "I…I wanna give us a go, but I'm scared of what might happen if we do. I mean, look at us!" I gestured between us. "We're not exactly the most compatible…and the height difference alone…"

"I don't  _care_ about that!" Jak raised his voice, still remaining compassionate. "I don't care if we're different in height, or even in species! I  _know_ you better than anyone, Daxter, and you know me better than anyone! I've seen you at your best and worst, you've stuck with me to hell and backwards, you  _understand_ me. Do you think I'd let our physical differences get in the way of that?"

"I guess not…" Without thinking, I leaned onto Jak's side, rested my head, and closed my eyes. Jak had a point; why the hell should  _one_ difference affect anything? Sure, it was a fairly big difference, but at the end of the day, it was still only a difference.

I could tell Jak was smiling. "We can figure it out as we go, there's no rush. I'm happy with this."

My reply was instant. "Me too."

And we just sat there, without a care in the world, Jak softly scratching my head. I could still hear sounds of the party echoing down the hall, but that was dominated by Jak's heartbeat, resonating softly from his chest.

_Yeah, I could definitely get used to this._

My mind wondered, memories from today passed through, until I remembered something.

"The PRESENTS!" I leapt up in a feat of realization. Cuddling with Jak could wait. "I can't believe we almost forgot about the presents!"

Jak laughed at my outburst. "I'm surprised it took you this long to remember."

"You were distracting me, it's YOUR fault!"

"I didn't see you complaining."

"I…SHUT UP!" I had no trouble climbing up onto Jak's shoulder. "Come on, Jakkie, we're wasting daylight!"

"Alright, I'm getting up..."

If I remembered correctly, the presents would be back at the Control room in safe keeping, so it wouldn't be a journey. Nonetheless, I let Jak lead the way, like we did so many times before, sat down and enjoyed the ride.

I wouldn't have had it any other way.


	8. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

* * *

I can remember the rest of that night clearer than any I've spent at Haven. Things were so carefree from that point on, and I knew who to thank for that.

Daxter stood on my shoulder, proud and confident as always. "C'mon Jakkie, keep it moving! Don't slow on me! TEN HUT!" It was the same old Daxter I loved, expect now, I could truly be honest with my feelings around him. I couldn't begin to tell you how happy that makes me feel.

I must admit, I didn't run to the Control room as fast as I could have, not that it really mattered. I didn't care much about the presents, to be honest; only the fact that someone actually  _bought_ one for me in the first place. Besides, considering recent events, how the hell could a present improve my mood even further?

Anyway, we made it inside the Control room, Daxter leaped off my shoulder with his childlike impatience. "Yes, finally!" I saw him dash to the cabinet, where the gifts were hidden, ravaging though the pile enthusiastically.

I had to laugh. "Slow down Dax, you might break something…"

"Nah, it's fine, Jak. I shook all of them earlier, nothing fragile here…I hope…"

Rolling my eyes, I took out my communicator. "I'll call everyone over, don't think they'll wanna be left out…"

Daxter turned to look at me. "What, now?!"

That almost threw me off. I rose an eyebrow. "Well yeah, of course...Why not?"

"Oh…it's nothing, just….thought we could open each other's first…" Daxter placed a hand behind his neck. "Ya know, in private."

I considered the idea, as tempting as it was. I almost said yes too, until my mind came up with a better solution. "Why don't we open ours at the end of the night instead, after everyone else? We could go to our room…"

Daxter brightened up. "Oh yeah, good thinking! Gotta save the best for last, you know?"

"Exactly." I smiled, and called the rest of our friends up.

They arrived about ten minutes later, each looking as buzzed as the other. Tess and Keira definitely had a couple drinks beforehand, while Sig just seemed happy to be there. Even Torn had a smile plastered on him, but whether it was whimsy or whisky, I couldn't tell.

It was strange, seeing everyone like that, especially after all we'd been through, but it made me happy nonetheless. I grabbed the closest glass I could find and gave the generic toast-hoping for a better future, typical inspirational speech, you know.

Everyone applauded the speech, and the night just took off from there. I made an attempt to keep conversation with everyone there, although I admit, half the time I wasn't really listening.

Once the mood began to die down, I gave Daxter a nod, signaling that we could sneak out. I swear, he gapped out of the room with both our presents in seconds. I followed, trying to hold down a laugh, and failing.

When we reached our room again, we sat ourselves down on the bed. Daxter had his present, and handed me mine. My present was relatively small, and felt clunky. When I gave it a shake, I heard it rattle; I could already tell it was something mechanical.

Daxter could barely hide his excitement. "Ok Jakkie, you first!"

I raised an eyebrow, amused. "You don't want to open yours first?"

"I wanted to be polite!"

"That's a first." (Yeah, I shouldn't have, but it was too tempting not to.)

"Hey! I'm the wiseass here, big boy! Don't try to steal my thunder!"

"Alright, alright!" I must admit, no matter how hard I try, Daxter will always have the better wit. "C'mon Dax, you go first."

"You kidding me?  _You_ go first!"

"I insist!"

"NO!"

"YES!" God, I had no idea arguing with Daxter could be so much fun.

"That's it, we're getting nowhere at this rate!" Daxter "New idea: We open on the count of three!"

"Alright." I nodded. "One…"

"Two…"

"Three!" We tore apart the wrapping, just like that, and darted our eyes at what we unraveled.

As I guessed, my present was some sort of a gun mod, but unlike any I'd ever seen; it didn't look like it fired any bullets, only a claw-attached to one end. I was intrigued.

A second later I heard Daxter's response to his present. "Woah…" In his hands he held a miniature blaster, custom made for his size. "You really think I should have this?"

"Of course." I smirked. "Even now, you should really have a way to defend yourself."

"Hey, I can defend myself!" Daxter stood defiantly, then gazed back down at his new weapon. "Then again, I guess a bit of firepower wouldn't hurt…"

"It'd save you from running away."

"SHUT UP!" Daxter punched me in the shoulder, not too hard of course. "You like what I got you?"

"Uh…" I held the device awkwardly. "What is it?"

"It's a grappling hook, of course!" Daxter grinned. "Newest gun mod, just came out too! Thought it'd make our climbing a bit easier, you know, for collecting Precursor orbs and all…I mean, you wouldn't have to go all 'light Jak' and fly, or.."

"I love it." I gave the device another look, finding the button that presumably activated it. "Wanna test it out?'"

Daxter made a nervous laugh. "I'll pass, way too tired for holding on for dear life…Tomorrow, sure. Tonight, no." He made a good point too, I was getting exhausted myself.

It didn't take long before Daxter spoke up again. "Hey Jak?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry...you know, for reading your diary. I shouldn't have-"

I cut him off. "Daxter, I'm not mad. I should've told you personally, face to face, like friends would." I did everything I could not to look away. "I just…was too  _scared_ to, you know?"

Daxter eyes widened. "You, scared?! Come on, the greatest Hero of the Precursors was scared of what I'd think of him liking me? If if I didn't like ya back, we'd still be friends, right? I'm not  _that_ much of a jerk, you know! Why would you be scared of me?" Daxter made a slight chuckle.

"You matter more to me than you think, Dax. Even now…"

Daxter frowned. "And what, you don't think I feel the same for you?" Daxter jumped onto my lap. "Listen here Jakkie boy! We've been best friends for longer than I can remember, you been there for me and I've tried to be there for you. I've said it before, I wanna try this, and there's no way I'm gonna back down. We can do this! You deserve to be happy, dammit!"

I was overwhelmed, I don't think I'd ever heard Daxter be so passionate about something-not in such a long time. "Daxter…"

"I mean it Jak! I can be better, I can…"

I cut him off. "Hey, that doesn't matter, ok?" I punched him softly. "Just be yourself, Dax, that's all I care about, ok?"

It took a moment, but eventually Daxter made a smile back. "Fine…If you're really that crazy!"

I made the cockiest smirk in my life. "I think we're both a little crazy, aren't we?"

We both laughed as we lay there, taking in the relaxed atmosphere properly for the first time in years.

I think I'm gonna call it a night. Daxter's asleep now, I can still hear him snoring on my bed. I couldn't sleep with all of this on my mind, although now I'm starting to feel tired. I've written everything down here, and somehow, I feel safer because of it. It's good to get things off your chest, I've realized, down on paper.

I guess I won't be writing much here anymore, will I? I mean, what's a paper compared to a person, my best friend, my  _partner_?

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It certainly has been a while since I've updated this, hasn't it? Well, I'm afraid I've suffered a combination of writers block, intrigue in other fandoms and just laziness in general however despite that, I was able to finally able to post this!
> 
> My first multi-chapter fanfiction and now it's finally complete. It's been quite the experience, and I'm glad people have enjoyed it, even to the point of giving it reviews, I always appreciate that.
> 
> This should go without saying by now, but if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me, and I'll respond however I can.
> 
> Thanks a bunch, really I mean it!  
> -V

**Author's Note:**

> So... what'ya think? I've already written the next 3 chapters for this, and by the time you read this, I should be working on the 5th chapter!
> 
> I'd really appreciate some support/feedback/criticism, as it really provides some motivation to write this stuff. I enjoy it, but it's also nice to know that someone else does too.


End file.
